[CS-FSLUG] Notebook computers

[Stephen J. McCracken]

On Sun, 2004-05-23 at 17:12, N. Thompson wrote:
> This summer I'm planning on getting a job (already sent a resume to Future 
> shop) and one of the things I'm considering saving up for is a Notebook 
> computer.
> 
Just remember if your purchase is about 6 months away, your choices will
change quite a lot in that time.  All we can give you is general
recommendations.

> Mostly what I'm looking for to begin with is something between medium and low 
> end, I'd preffer something small and portable as I'd probably end up carrying 
> it around the house. I have no intentions of bringing it outside except when 
> going on vacations away from home (I enjoy travelling but it doesn't happen 
> often :-) ).

As was mentioned, on that level of portability, you really don't need
something really small.  (A nice small, lightweight one I've seen is a
Sony VIAO, but I wouldn't want to do a lot of day to day work on it
because of its size.)  For the level of portability that you want, I
would be more interested in what screen size and resolution you feel
comfortable working on that doesn't tire your eyes.  Remember that an
LCD screen looks best at its native resolution and any other resolution
gets slightly blurry.  If you feel most comfortable looking at a
1024x768 resolution on the screen size that comes with the laptop then
it doesn't make much sense to buy the latest and greatest laptop with a
screen resolution of 1600x1200 when you'll only use the 1024x768 mode
(that will be slightly more blurry than a screen with 1024x768 native
resolution.

sjm